I’m back. Miss me? Of course you didn’t because Chris killed it here on Initial Descent last week. Either way, I’m still picking sand out of…places. But anyway, you came here for new metal and that we have plenty of this week. See what I did there? Saved you from a dumb story about sand, proud and elated you must be.

Enough about that, let’s focus on music. By now Kevin Hufnagel is a household name to a much larger audience than just metal and on Messages To the Past he proves why as he effortlessly recalls guitar virtuosos, past and present, but furthermore offers up a fantastic album full of beautiful peaks and valleys. Cokegoat and Barren Heir bathe in sludge and doom on their split Sunshine / Tracing Light, Italy’s Nomura and Nulla+ leave a trail of bloody ears with their blackened hardcore / punk split impronte / lacrimeand Converge drop an EP, Beautiful Ruin, on us out of nowhere — it is a good day indeed.

Good opening four but there’s much more. I’m a poet and didn’t know it…(drum roll). Anyway, grab a coffee or a cold one and stick around, the metal awaits. Continue reading →

Modern black metal is typically harsh and aggressive. Modern black metal bands invoke atmosphere by slowing down and ringing out notes on staccato-plucked strings, with slightly enhanced production rendering the instruments clear to the listener. Such is the case with Cold Fell on their debut full length Irwell.

You can feel the thud of drums blasting at breakneck-speed, and feel the grating of pick against steel strings. You might also manage to hear some bass. The overall effect of which is a heavy, nuanced vernacular of slightly-dissonant, often rampaging, screaming, and burgeoning wall of sound that lets up in direct paradox to the blast sections, slowing down and offering doom touches and vicarious high-pitched screams. Continue reading →